A line of share autos effectively obscures an innocuous blue bunk shop on the margins of the road opposite Nungambakkam railway station.
Approach the shop and you will see S.M. Gopi turning left and right, matching biscuits to go with steaming cups of regular tea, like in most other tea shops. Glance away from the crowd, and it’s hard to miss a rather unusual board that announces that Gopi, from his tiny pedestal, will also make you a cup of green tea or lemon tea.
Gopi, a class X dropout, says that he decided to offer the variants at the shop after he read about the benefits of green tea in a newspaper last year. Though a majority of customers, ranging from students to office-goers, still prefer regular tea, green tea is also finding takers as awareness increases, he says. Also, those who halt there, including the drivers, sometimes enquire what green tea is. “I make around 50 cups a day. More people know about this healthy alternative now than before,” says Gopi who feels that green tea will become popular if more shops offered it. “I have seen a few other shops sell green tea too,” he says. Some may think twice because it costs three rupees more, he adds as an afterthought.
If Gopi offers two variations, K. Rajeev takes it 62 steps further. “I offer 64 varieties,” he announces. The board at his modest stall outside the Southern Railway Divisional office in Park Town, though, can accommodate only a handful. Rajeev says that before moving here three years ago, he sold tea and coffee near the Madras Medical College for several years, and learnt about healthy variations while interacting with doctors and students.
Head there for concoctions such as mint tea, honey green tea, pepper tea, sukku coffee and panna vellam coffee among others. “I recently introduced vetiver tea. I source traditional ingredients from a country drug store and get suggestions before I offer a new variety to customers,” he says. Regardless of whether you have a cold, a headache or even diabetes, the shop offers you the perfect drink.